United Nations Public Service Awards Case Studies

Korea’s National Plant Quarantine Service (NPQS) is responsible for preventing the introduction of harmful plant pests to Korea, or exit of Korea’s plant pest abroad. The plant quarantine promotes safe production of agricultural and forest products by safeguarding against harmful pests; protects natural and agricultural ecology and environment to contribute to the national health of own country as well as protects the environment of trading partners.

Internationally, the importance of plant quarantine has been emphasized further due to increasing trade between countries and expanding demands for negotiation on agricultural trade in the wake of the market opening and globalization. The degree of self-sufficiency of Korea’s agricultural products and plant products has gone down to 70% in 2004 and continues to decrease. Furthermore, numbers of import plant quarantine inspection has soared 12 times, from 306,000 cases in 2000 to 3,707,000 cases in 2006. This has resulted in rapid increase in risk of introduction of exotic pests: the number of pest detection from the import quarantine inspection rose from 4,254 cases of 274 species in 2000 to 7,125 cases of 450 species in 2006.

Domestically, public interest on plant quarantine and natural environment has increased owing to forest damages caused by such pests as pine needle gall midge and pinewood nematode and thus the demands for protection of agricultural and forest resources and natural environment through strengthening of plant quarantine activities became greater. Development of quarantine technology is required due to diversification of quarantine targets. It was difficult to handle escalating quarantine demands because of lack of manpower and experts in certain fields. Furthermore, passive attitude toward revising the relevant law and system to cope with the changing environment has presented the necessity for equipping the quarantine system that will lead to customer satisfaction.

NPQS has been pursuing intensive innovation in order to ensure that plant quarantine service conforms to the changing environment including free trade agreements, changes in international and domestic plant quarantine, standardization of quarantine technology, establishment of quarantine database, and increase in interest on environment-friendly policies. NPQS was enthusiastic in elimination the ineffectiveness in plant quarantine service and in developing the world’s leading internal and external customer-friendly system actively using IT.

What is the initiative about? (the solution)
In order to provide the world leading service to all customers, NPQS has striven to establish an internationally recognized brand for its service through innovation in organization, system, work process and service. NPQS chose “QIPS” (Quarantine Inspection Process System) as the brand to represent the speedy and accurate plant quarantine process system. QIPS, includes on-line plant quarantine system, pest information system, electronic phytosanitary certificates exchange system, inspection result processing system using PDA, integrated plant quarantine system, and establishment of plant pest diagnosis network. Thanks to these systems, more than 99% of the inspection applications are submitted online. A great deal of time and costs could be saved because customers do not have to visit NPQS offices. Pest Information System integrates information on plant pest and statistics on inspection results to provide required information in real time. By using the electronic phytosanitary certificate exchange system, time spent for handling documents was reduced and concerns for loss or fabrication of official documents were disappeared. Inspectors could carry out their business at the inspection site in real-time using PDA which led to a greater effectiveness in the work process available in Mobile Office. Currently 65% of inspection results are approved electronically using PDA. ‘Plant Q Service’, a comprehensive plant quarantine service system, integrated previous multiple channels into one single window. This allows access to all information, by a single log in, which drastically improves convenience and satisfaction of internal and external clients through collecting and providing the latest information on world’s plant quarantine by the introduction of Web-Robot. Customers can access information anytime they need from the application to the completion and the inspection process became systemized and transparent. The online application rate now reaches 99.8% and the result of the customer satisfaction survey conducted in August 2006 among 1,500 internal and external clients showed 86.5 out of 100 in satisfaction. With regard to the hours required to complete the work, approximately 48.8% of time (8.2 hours) was saved which can be converted into a monetary value of US$ 72.5 million annually. The Pest Diagnosis Network (PDNet) is the world’s leading system that combines the technology of the real-time video conferencing and high-resolution image transmission, intended to enable diagnosis anywhere of the country with an Internet access. Specialists on plant pest and disease in different organizations all over the country can exchange information and draw a conclusion in real-time. PDNet can drastically reduce the time required for diagnosis to 1 day from 5 to 7 days in the past. This results in a huge cost reduction in manpower in the research area by US$ 6.15 million, in diagnosis by US$ 2.97million and in logistics of importers by US$ 920,000. NPQS received ISO 9001 certification in 2007. ISO 9001 certification is the proof that NPQS has been managing and implementing plant quarantine service that conforms to the standards set by ISO and that plant quarantine administration has developed into a customer-oriented system. PDA(Personal Digital Assistant) ISO(International Organization for Standardization)

Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
NPQS organized in 2004 a Task Force Team (TFT) to focus on work innovation and system improvement, in order to check overall the existing system to identify problems and to propose solution. The TFT was lead by the Director of Quarantine Planning Division of NPQS and was composed of 15 members in 3 teams including Coordination, Innovation in Field Inspection and Innovation in Pest Management. Relevant laws were revised in order to set up a legal basis for improvement, and division that are responsible for field inspection including Quarantine Planning, Pest Control and Pest Risk Analysis Division as well as IT Development participated in the development of a new system. In order to strengthen expertise and cooperation, the “National Plant Pests and Disease Forum” composed of 17 experts from universities and research institutions related with plant pests including Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Rural Development Administration, Korea Forest Service, and universities was organized and formed a “Diagnosis Expert Pool”. With regard to the improvement of telecommunication and various system which are the most important component, 8 private IT companies participated in each system development. After the system development, one regional office was selected and a pilot program was carried out jointly with relevant stakeholders including 195 import and export companies of agricultural products, to check and improve various problems in advance, such as confusion or delay of inspection that may occur at the beginning of the system introduction.

Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
a. What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
NPQS had independent evaluation by Korea Management Association, to analyze the changes in environment that affects NPQS in terms of international, society, system and technology. From the results of external and internal evaluation and analysis, NPQS set up its vision “realization of the world's best plant quarantine service with customers.” This means that based on open-mindedness and trust, customers and NPQS shall participate in achieving continuous development in plant quarantine as equal partners, which will lead to the world-class level in all relevant areas including the customer service and plant quarantine administration. NPQS set up ultimate goals to of innovation that prevention of introduction of malignant exotic pests; protection of agricultural resources and natural ecology; enhancement of agricultural competitiveness; and stable national development. NPQS identified the following 4 core success factors. First “expanding advanced quarantine infrastructure” is strengthening the cutting edge equipments and facilities and quarantine systems to conform to the international standards, to promote effective border quarantine and customer benefits that create “Blue Oceans” by saving time and cost and improving accuracy. Second, “upgrading the level of human resources” is to expertise quarantine manpower and to strengthen professional training in order to foster global experts with international competitiveness. Third, “reinforcing management of exotic pests” is to early establish advanced plant quarantine system through strengthening the capacity for exotic pest identification and risk analysis, to conduct speedy monitoring of exotic pests outbreak in Korea and to implement emergency measures. Fourth, “establishing a customer-oriented service culture” is to establish a ubiquitous network to maximize the work efficiency and customer satisfaction through customer-oriented service, strengthening quarantine support projects, and combining advanced IT technology.

b. What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
The speedy and accurate plant quarantine processing system “QIPS” is an integrated one-stop plant quarantine service system to provide customer satisfaction and plant quarantine information to focus on customer demands. The project was initiated in 2004 and first developed “On-line plant quarantine system” which processes inspection application online, and provides status of the inspection process by SMS. In 2005, NPQS established an e-phytosanitary certificate system which allows a partner country to check the phytosanitary certificate issued by NPQS online or exchange the phytosanitary certificate through electronic file with partner countries. In addition, Pest Information System (PIS), a comprehensive pest information system was completed which is a management system to improve the reliability of pest information and to effectively utilize pest information accumulated during the plant quarantine processes. NPQS also established the “Real-time data processing system” which enables electronic approval and EDI transmission in real-time at the inspection site using PDA. In 2006, NPQS was able to set up a basis for integrated management of quarantine information and customer-oriented plant quarantine information by establishing the “Plant Q Service”, a comprehensive plant quarantine service system. In 2007, NPQS established nationwide plant pest diagnosis network(PDNet), that allows plant pest diagnosis at anytime, anywhere by experts from various organization through internet based conferencing and image transmission. NPQS successfully integrated series of all plant quarantine service systems and branded it the “QIPS”, Quarantine Inspection Process System. This enabled NPQS to receive ISO9001 certification for its plant quarantine service. Achievements Feb. 2004 Organization and operation of a Task Force Team (TFT) for work innovation and system improvement Mar. – Jul. 2004 External assessment of quarantine service to achieve plant quarantine innovation Mar. – Dec. 2004 Development of On-line Plant Quarantine System Oct. 2005 Development of web-based Pest Information System Nov. 2005 Development of Electronic Phytosanitary Certificate Exchange System between other countries Dec. 2005 Establishment of Inspection Result Processing System using PDA Dec. 2006 Establishment of Plant Q Service, an integrated plant quarantine System Apr. 2007 Establishment of an innovation brand and service implementation - Provided staff training on brand and invited staffs to participate in the slogan contests May. 2007 Organization of a “Nation-wide Plant Pest Expert Forum” - Organization of “Diagnosis Expert Pool” to establish the human resources network Aug. 2007 Selection of a brand design: “QIPS” (Quarantine Inspection Process System) Feb. – Sep. 2007 Establishment of Plant Pest Diagnosis Network (website: http://pdnet.npqs.go.kr) NPQS received ISO9001 certification SMS(Short Message System)

c. What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
The biggest obstacle NPQS faced in its pursuit of innovation was distrust rooted among clients. In its survey to identify areas that needs improvement or new system, clients who were accustomed to high-handed administration of import plant quarantine service, distrusted the intention of the survey and regarded it as one of the “showoff” policies. At the beginning, it was very difficult to gain cooperation. Customers returned the survey with perfunctory responses that they were satisfied and found no problem. NPQS staffs tried to change the attitude and held several meetings to explain about the intention of the survey. Then customers were persuaded by these efforts and started revealing cases where they had experienced inconvenience and issues that needs improvement. Customers, who had been used to high-handed and bureaucratic services, started to open up and regarded inspectors as reliable partners they can talk to. This trust built among customers created a “domino effect” and made customers to play a role as an active advisor in bringing about innovation in the NPQS. Customers’ trust led to an active participation and became the driving force in building the customer-oriented plant quarantine inspection system. Customers who were not familiar with using computers, were at first reluctant to access internet and felt it inconvenient. To address this, NPQS published and distributed the “Manual for Plant Quarantine Electronic Application” for customers and provided trainings on how to use the system. Thanks to the continuous efforts, the number of customers physically visiting the NPQS offices began to decrease while the rate of online application rose. Another problem encountered was introduction of decision-making system by the inspectors on the site of inspection. They were afraid of shouldering all the responsibilities. Meanwhile, the managers in NPQS feared that management functions on inspection would be weakened and opposed the idea. It was difficult to change suddenly the decision-making process that had been maintained for several decades. The capacity analysis result of the organization evaluation was presented to emphasize that unlike in the past, inspections are conducted by staffs with expertise and it is natural that one must be responsible for inspection that he or she conducted. After the 3 months of operation of the pilot program that began with both concerns and expectations, field inspectors and managers admitted that their concerns were groundless. Because inspectors were given more responsibility, the quality of inspection became upgraded and for managers, management became easier due to more transparent work process. Furthermore, difficulties were found during the establishment of the Pest Diagnostic Network (PDNet) because experts were scattered in various organizations and there were fences between agencies that hindered efforts to promote cooperation. These fences could be torn down by the consensus built upon the necessity for the project through the organizing “Nationwide plant pest expert forum” to gather concerns and demands of relevant institutions and agencies.

d. What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
During the 4 years of developing QIPS, the speedy and accurate plant quarantine processing system, around US$ 1.56 million was funded. However, this is not a huge amount in comparison to the benefits gained through the operation of QIPS. The government allocated NPQS a budgets for informatization, research projects and equipment procurement. Companies for developing software and hardware were selected through a tender by Public Procurement Service, a government agency. In order to develop plant quarantine service system that enhances customer satisfaction, NPQS internally organized and operated a Task Force Team for each projects. Fifty staff were drawn from the headquarters as well as regional offices annually. The TFT checked the existing system in overall to find issues that are unreasonable or need improvement and explored measures to bring about a drastic innovation. In order to prepare legal backgrounds for the improvement, relevant laws and regulations were revised. In order to make a transparent and fair technological assessment, “Technology Assessment Committee” consisting of 5 experts from outside organizations and universities in IT related fields, was operated. A “Nation-wide plant pest expert forum” was established, composed with 17 members from Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Rural Development Administration, Korea Forest Service and universities to promote cooperation and expertise. To establish the human resources network of plant pest experts, “Diagnosis Expert Pool” was formed consisting of 113 experts from NPQS, Rural Development Administration, Korea Forest Service, Ministry of Science and Technology and universities, specializing in 65 fields including disease, pest, weeds, plant taxonomy and LMO. LMO(Living genetically Modified Organism)

Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
The Korean government has pursued innovation in a strategic and scientific manner and regarded public servants as the driving force of innovation, rather than the target for the innovation. Instead of a drastic organizational or system reform, they have pursued qualitative, fundamental and constant innovation. NPQS has also pursued innovation in line with these central government’s innovation procedures. In order to remove factors causing ineffectiveness in plant quarantine processing system, relevant laws have been revised and measures to solve issues were devised through improving and creating the structure and systems. A stable system has been made through pilot programs, and this will continue to be operated until any modification is required due to environment changes. Laws and regulations governing plant quarantine process comply with WTO/SPS* Agreement and FAO/IPPC. Plant quarantine is a system operated by all countries in the world based on international standards, is not a unique system of Korea. Plant quarantine systems in countries around the world are all similar. This means that the online application system developed by Korea’s NPQS has high possibility to be used in other countries. As long as Internet is available, technology transfer of QIPS; Speedy and Accurate Plant Quarantine Processing System is readily available in any country, at anytime. In August 2006, ‘FAO/IPPC Asia-Pacific Regional Workshop on Draft International Standards’ was held in Korea. NPQS had an opportunity to demonstrate the Internet based inspection process system to plant quarantine officers from 19 Asian countries. Officials were impressed at the online processing system that can handle a series of works from the application to the final result. They experienced the system at the banana inspection site to input the inspection result and process the data using PDA, and commended highly for the system. The participants were impressed at the systematized and effective inspection process and expressed deep appreciation for allowing them to experience the latest and advanced plant quarantine administrative system. The innovation of plant quarantine processing system and brand making maximizing customers’ satisfaction are considered as an example of enhancing plant quarantine service and are being benchmarked. During the ‘ASEAN Plant Quarantine Experts Training’ in May 2007 and ‘FAO/IPPC Asia-Pacific Regional Workshop on Draft International Standards’ in July 2007, participants showed great interest and asked for introduction of the technology to their countries. Plant Pest Diagnosis Network in Plant Quarantine Processing System emerged as another major issue and many participants showed interests in utilizing the system in their countries. Furthermore, Delta Fix of Denmark requested for joint sales of the system in Europe and consultation for technology transfer is now underway. Locally, Korea Customs Service’s Internet clearance portal service “Uni-pass” has benchmarked this system, and National Veterinary Research and Quarantine Service also benchmarked this system to establish “Electronic Approval System” and “Comprehensive Management System for Animal Pathogens”. Its popularity is expected to be more accelerated and expanded further when extensive international promotion for QIPS begins in 2008. WTO/SPS(World Trade Organization / Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measure) FAO/IPPC(Food and Agriculture Organization fo the UN / International Plant Protection Convention) *ASEAN(Association of Southeast Asian Nations)

What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
Internal and external conditions surrounding plant quarantine has changed significantly such as increased demand of quarantine, expansion of international negotiation on quarantine, and higher standards demanded of quarantine by the public. Korea’s NPQS established a vision to “realization of the world's best plant quarantine service with customers”, and set goals and core strategies to create future-oriented and efficient “plant quarantine process system.” Led by a strong innovation drive of the Director-General Ki-Sik Lee, NPQS promoted overall innovation in plant quarantine in structure, process and service capacity to create customer satisfaction. As a result, NPQS could provide customers with the world-class “QIPS” -Quarantine Inspection Process System.. In 2007, Economist Intelligence Unit, a well-known survey organization, released “Report on IT industry’s competitiveness for bench marking” and ranked Korea’ IT industry competitiveness in the 3rd place with 67.2 points among 64 developed countries in the world, following the US and Japan. The report analyzed that owing to the high internet penetration, Korea emerged as an IT powerhouse. Korea’s strong capacity in IT contributed significantly to establishing and operating the “QIPS”. In creation of public administration service to fulfill customer satisfaction, participation by internal and external customers is considerably important. In order to provide the tailor-made customer-oriented service, we listened to customers and actively reflected their opinions in the development of the program. We established user-centered system by developing electronic program about whatever minor problem that may be easily overlooked. Now you cannot find anywhere customers standing in a long queue to submit applications in offices, calling continuously to check the inspection process, waiting for a long time after the completion of the inspection and field inspectors working overtime to organize the result of the inspection data and waiting for the approval. They are now a memory of the past. Furthermore, electronic approval system and the reduced approval process eliminated the face-to-face approval process. This made possible the Mobile Office System contributing to the effective quarantine service. NPQS improved customer service and greatly enhanced transparency of administration by providing plant quarantine information to the internal or external customers promptly through Internet.


Institution Name:		National Plant Quarantine Service Rep. of Korea
Institution Type:		Government Agency
Contact Person:		Jae-Am Lim
Title:		Director
Telephone/ Fax:		+82-31-466-6864
Institution's / Project's Website:		+82-31-448-6429
E-mail:		lukasleo@naver.com
Address:		433-1, Anyang 6-dong, Manan-Gu
Postal Code:		430-822
City:		Anyang
State/Province:		Gyeonggi-Do
Country:

The Problem

Solution and Key Benefits

Actors and Stakeholders

(a) Strategies

(b) Implementation

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

(d) Use of Resources

Sustainability and Transferability

Lessons Learned

Contact Information